I keep pretty frequent updates on Facebook and in the course of the last 3.5 months, a lot of friends and family have gotten more than their fair share of updates on Beckley. I know from our chats that a lot of my friends and in-laws thought "we spent too much", "..after all "he's just a CAT!" and "how can you spend over $4500 on a C-A-T". But I knew you would all understand and appreciate the situation. I'm so very thankful that I had a way to share the emotion of all this with folks who DON'T laugh and who understand. Thank you! VERY MUCH! So the latest....

Killmo, you were correct. The neurosurgeon thought it was a neuroma. But the gabapentin didn't work at all. So he switched him to OCD meds because he'd seen similar compulsive behavior in dogs that had nerve pain issues. Even when the pain issue was resolved, the compulsion remained.

Turns out... he was right. A two week course of OCD meds (amitrypyiline) worked! We've now been able to reduce his dose down to half of the original dose and we will probably take him off of the meds entirely this weekend. BUT we will monitor him for recurrence of behavior. I'm so thrilled!

He usually sleeps with me/on me and tucks his head as deep in under my chin as he can get it. Last Friday was the first time, in over 3.5 months, that he could do that and we could both fall asleep that way. I actually lay there in tears of relief and joy. Wow! What a ride!